Little Talks
by AStateOfImaginaryGrace
Summary: A series of conversations between characters that don't get enough (non-case) screen time together. Ch. 5: Castle, Ryan, and Esposito. Introducing...FTB!
1. Castle and Lanie

Set sometime after _47 Seconds, _but before _The Limey._

**Castle & Lanie**

* * *

Lanie Parrish was leaning over the body making last minute notes when Castle walked into the morgue.

"Castle! Where's Beckett?"

It amazed him, sometimes, how her best friend could switch so effortlessly between calling her "Kate" and "Beckett." But then, he'd been doing that a lot, lately, too, hadn't he?

"Said she'd meet me here," he shrugged. He sat in one of the chairs at a desk along the edge of the room. He didn't look up as Lanie came over and peered at him.

"What's wrong with you, Writer Boy?"

"Nothing, Lanie. What do you have?"

"Oh no. I'm not going through this twice just because you don't want to spill. We're waiting till Beckett gets here."

"Fine."

She waited for him to continue, and when he didn't, she prodded, "Seriously."

He considered her. "Lanie, you're her friend."

"Yeah, yeah I am."

"Hmm," he agreed mildly—with himself—and once again lapsed into staring at nothing.

"Castle, I _will_ smack you."

"I just…" he sucked in a breath, steeling himself. "Does she care about me at all?" he let out in a rush.

Lanie was stunned for a moment, but recovered herself quickly. She knelt next to his chair and put a hand on his arm.

"Oh, honey, of course she does," she said soothingly. And when he didn't respond one way or the other, she continued, "What brought this up? You two have been close lately."

"I thought."

"What happened?"

"She said—" He seemed to suddenly realize where he was and who he was talking to, and his mouth clamped shut.

"Richard Castle, do not shut me out now," Lanie said in her best I'm-being-comforting-but-you'd-_better_-do-what-I-say voice. "I'm her friend, but I'm yours too."

"First thing you'd do is tell her. It's a girl thing."

"You don't believe me? Don't you know that we've all stood up for you to her at some point? Who do you think talked sense into her after you messed up two summers ago? Hmm? That was me. And when Beckett tried to push you out of the precinct, who fought her on it? That was Ryan and Esposito. Believe it or not, we have your back too."

Castle finally looked up at her. He'd always thought that in the divorce—mom would get full custody of the kids' loyalty. The way Lanie was talking, he might have visiting rights after all.

"In interrogation. She said…she told him she remembered everything. From her shooting."

He looked like he needed prompting again, so she made an encouraging noise in the back of her throat.

He took a deep breath, and ran a hand over his face. Stalling tactics, he knew, but he hadn't said these words out loud since that day…

"I told her I loved her."

Lanie didn't react as he expected her to. She simply squeezed his arm and smiled. Her face—it wasn't pity, exactly. More like sympathy, from someone who understood what it felt like to be on the receiving end of Kate's invisible affection. Affection that was there, certainly, and strong; it just had a hard time finding its way to the surface, and, as a result, remained buried in subtext.

"Castle, thank you for coming out of the closet, but most of us already knew that."

He floundered, his mouth opening soundlessly, until he managed, "But I—but I never…"

"Was it supposed to be some big secret?" she asked in that kind, gentling voice.

"No, I guess it wasn't. I'm so used to—to _not_ saying exactly what I mean that I—I forgot. I forgot that not everybody is as standoffish as we are. And that we're maybe not as subtle as we think." He gave her a self-deprecating smile.

It was such an unusual look to see on his face that she squeezed his arm again and said, "Castle, she loves you too. Maybe not in the way that you want," (Yes, in exactly the way that he wants), "but she cares about you a lot."

"Then why wouldn't she tell me she remembers?"

"You think that means she doesn't care?"

"Do you have a better way to explain it?"

"No, no. I want to hear your version first. Writer Boy."

And once again, he found himself having a hard time getting the words out. "The way I see it—she gave me an out. Let me save face, stopped me from embarrassing myself. Any more than I already had. Guess I messed that up, too."

"I don't think that's it at all," Lanie started. She moved a hand to his face to make him look at her. "You said it yourself—your conversations aren't on the surface. You two never say what you mean. Think of the trauma she'd been through—I know, she's had time now, but if you let something sit for that long how would you bring it up? She was scared; I know that, and you know that. She even admitted it herself, so you know it was big. She was scared for her life, and her father's, and yours. You were all tied up in that case, and she thought you were all in the crosshairs. We still don't really understand why they stopped coming."

"You think she didn't tell me she remembered because she was scared of what I'd do if I knew?"

"That's one way to think of it."

"Thanks, Lanie."

"Just don't give up on her, okay? You stay long enough, she'll come around."

"So, dead body?"

He was good at changing the subject. It was a subtle art.

"Not until Beckett gets here. But you can help me stand up." She'd been knelt beside him for so long that her heels were starting to go numb.

He stood and grabbed her hands, pulling her upright.

"Really, thank you, Lanie."

"It's no problem, Rick. When the two of you get your issues sorted out—there's a lot of us that are going to be happy. Not to mention the money involved."

He laughed. The office pool—constantly shifting but always in his favor.

"Oh, the stories I could tell you, Dr. Parrish." And just like that, Richard Castle was back.

When Beckett entered the morgue, she heard laughter echoing up the halls. She didn't know what was going on, but it didn't seem very surrounded-by-dead-bodies-appropriate.

* * *

_A/N-From here, I suppose it either goes AU or stays canon and Castle just completely ignores Lanie's advice. Either way._

_This turned out angstier than I wanted. Castle was a little OoC, but I like to think that this is his time in between being really angry and really angry-in the middle he's just kind of depressed and resigned. Maybe I'll try for fluff again next time..._

_Thanks for reading! Please review-I really value (constructive) feedback._


	2. Beckett and Ryan

_A/N-Thanks for the reviews/follows/favs :)_

* * *

**Beckett and Ryan**

_During Till Death Do Us Part, several days before the wedding_

* * *

"Jenny is going to kill me if she finds out about this," Ryan said. He stared hungrily at the contents of the frying pan. It was so close, he could just reach out and—

"It's cold and uncooked right now, Ryan," Beckett warned him while she added spices to the stir fry. She turned slightly, so that the pan was closer to the edge of the table and further from where he was seated. "If you get food poisoning, I think she's going to notice that you broke the cleanse."

"I thought it was a good idea," he insisted, as though defending himself now would make the days of hunger go away. "At first," he added darkly. "Thanks for doing this for me. I swear, she has spies all over the city. Her family, her extended family. I think she even has _my_ family reporting to her."

"I've been there. When I was sixteen, I snuck out of the house with my boyfriend to go to a party—great party, totally worth it—but one of my dad's associates saw me and called him. I was grounded for a month."

"A month? That seems pretty harsh."

"I may have made some previous infractions that, ah, exacerbated the situation." She moved the pan to the table top stove, igniting a flame beneath it.

"So sneaking out was a common occurrence?" Ryan asked.

"I'd promised them I wouldn't do it again, a few months earlier. Did it four more times before I got caught." She laughed. "I earned every punishment they gave me, and then some."

"That's not what this is, is it? This isn't like you and your parents."

"What? You mean hiding out in my apartment and smuggling food?" She saw the look on his face and sobered. "No. No, Ryan, you're starving, and it's affecting your ability to do your job. This way, you get some food and stay on _my_ good side, and Jenny doesn't find out so you stay on _her_ good side."

"I don't want to start my marriage with a lie."

"You're a cop, Ryan. It's dangerous to you and your partners for you to be so off balance. But I know how brides can be." She pointed to herself. "Bridesmaid, six times. You can tell her after the wedding. Just don't add anything to her stress right now."

"I think not eating is adding to her stress right now."

"What did you tell her, anyway? If she's got as many reporters as you say she does, she must know where you're not." Beckett began sliding the food into a glass serving bowl.

"I told her I was getting my hair cut. For the wedding."

"And what are you planning on telling her when you go home and your hair is not cut?"

"I…" He looked thoughtful. "I hadn't thought of that."

"I'll do it." Misreading the look he gave her she added, "After you eat." She handed him a plate, a fork, and the serving spoon, then pushed the bowl of food toward him.

He began loading his plate with the steaming vegetables and meat. Why had he ever agreed to give this up?

While he began stuffing his face, Beckett rinsed the cooking utensils and filled the frying pan with water to let it soak in the sink before taking her own plate and helping herself. She glanced sideways, and was again reminded of a feral cat.

"You might want to slow down. Choking and vomiting are also signs of having consumed food."

That made him pause, consider, and then chew more thoroughly.

"You're right. But this is delicious." At least he'd waited to finish the sentence before taking another bite.

"Thanks. I don't know why—everybody thinks I'm incapable of cooking."

He made a noise of agreement—everybody should appreciate Beckett's cooking ability—but was so focused on eating that she decided to wait until he finished to try starting a conversation again.

When he was finally done (he'd eaten seconds, once she assured him she didn't mind), she brought up his cover story again.

"So, how do you want it?"

"Want what?" He looked concerned.

"Your hair. How do you want your hair cut?"

"Um…I don't know if that's a good idea."

The look she leveled on him could rival Lanie. "You don't think I can do it?"

"No, no. It's not that. It's just…this is for my wedding. And you're my boss."

"Ryan, you are sitting in my kitchen because you're afraid to tell your soon-to-be-wife that you need to eat. I think we're past boss." She paused for breath. "I used to cut my friends' hair all the time. I got pretty good at it. Seriously, I wouldn't mess you up right before your wedding."

Reluctantly, with a glance at the food, he nodded. "Okay. Just, not too much off. I don't want it to be too short. Just make it a little neater?"

"Of course." She left to set up a place over the bathroom sink.

He stared after her, wondering what he'd gotten himself into.

* * *

That night when he got home, Jenny was already there, poring over last minute details. She looked up when he walked in, and stood when he came closer. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair.

At his apprehensive look, she smiled. "This is amazing! Where did you get this done? If I didn't already have arrangements, I'd go to this person." She walked a circle around him. "Seriously, how did they do this?"

His mind went blank. Lie, lie, what's a good lie?

She looked at him expectantly.

_Uh oh._

* * *

_A/N-Thanks for reading! Just a note, I love Jenny, but Ryan needed a reason to be at Beckett's apartment, so..._

_A Beckett/Alexis chapter is definitely in the cards, but I want to do a few less common ones first. I will also, probably, at some point, do the Beckett/Lanie conversation that follows up the Castle/Lanie conversation._

_Please review! I appreciate follows/favs, but comments help me know what's good and what's not, and how I can improve (which I'd really like to do)._


	3. Castle and Kate

**Castle and Kate**

_(Directly) after Scared to Death._

* * *

She never ceased to amaze him. That trick with the ice cube—well, once again, he'd had no _idea._ Needless to say, he was tired.

So when he woke up at 4:00 in the morning, he was surprised. With a sort of delayed reaction, he realized that something had pinched his stomach, and it hurt.

Sluggishly, his mind tried to catch up. He looked down and saw her hand fisted in his shirt over his midsection. It was struggling to pull more material into its grasp, and had finally taken some skin in with it. He looked over at her. She'd been so relaxed when they went to sleep. But now—

Now her face was pressed into the side of his arm, her knees pulled up between them. Her eyes were clenched shut, forming lines around the edges. And tears. There were tears on her cheek. She wasn't sobbing, but small tremors ran through her.

"Kate," he said softly, laying a hand across hers to untangle it from his shirt. "Kate, wake up." When she didn't respond, he pulled harder, wrenching her hand away from him.

"NO!" she cried. Her death grip was moved from his shirt to the flesh of his hand and he was left wondering if she was going to break it and how in the world she was so strong.

"Kate," he repeated. He rolled onto his side to face her and used his unoccupied arm to pull her closer, into a hug. He leaned his mouth over her ear and spoke softly into it, trying to wake her up without startling her.

When her grip relaxed, he drew back. She stared at his chest. He was pretty sure she wasn't seeing it; she just happened to be looking in that direction and he was in the way. Her eyes were wide and her lips were parted.

Finally, she looked up at him. He tried to smile reassuringly, but that look…made it difficult to smile at all. Her eyes were shiny with tears and sleep and she looked terrified.

"Castle…" she whispered. She dropped his hand and brought her own up to flit across his jaw.

He desperately wanted to know what was wrong but knew not to push yet. He had to wait until she was more fully awake, aware, and in control of herself. Then she might, _might_, share.

Her hand settled more solidly against his face, and she reached up and brushed a kiss across his chin. Smiling was easier now.

"Kate?"

"Castle, you—" She took a calming breath and the shivering stopped. She stretched her legs out (her toes reached all the way to his) and settled closer. Her voice was so quiet and small in the middle of his bedroom. "I need you to not joke about it."

"I wouldn't make fun of a nightmare you had, Kate. You know that." In a tragic sort of way, they already knew how both of them dealt with nightmares. When you had them that often…

"Not…not that. Dying. I need you to not take it so lightly."

Oh. Well, he had kind of hammed up that DVD's evil spirit, hadn't he? But she didn't believe in evil spirits, or hauntings, or voodoo and the like, right? And, though he was certainly more open to the possibilities than she was, he hadn't _really_ thought they'd die just because they'd watched a video. He thought she knew that.

"I thought you didn't believe in stuff like that. Your story-ruining logic, and all."

"Amanda was very, very, real Castle. You were in that cabin. She hit you with it—enough to blind you for a minute. If she'd been closer… If she'd finished with Mark and decided you'd seen too much or were in the way… If she'd—"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. That's a lot of what if's, Kate. I thought we agreed that between the two of us, we have _way_ too many what if's to worry about them all."

"Saying you won't worry is a lot easier said than done."

"Do you want to tell me about the dream?"

She buried her face in his shoulder and shook her head. "It was quite the Wes Craven scenario, starring you and me. It played out pretty close to our experience in the cabin in the woods. Except…"

He didn't need her to continue to know what had happened differently.

"I begged you. Not to leave me, understand? You…left anyway. And then Espo…he and Ryan were dragging me away from you. I was leaving you, then."

He wrapped his other arm around her, but she wasn't crying anymore. Kate Beckett could make it through anything.

She'd said she thought it was sweet that he wanted her to outlive him. But—

"I can't lose you, Castle. I _can't._ Do you understand that?"

—she wouldn't survive that.

He did understand. More than she knew.

* * *

_A/N-Thanks for reading! I know I said I wanted to do less common ones first, but I couldn't resist. Nothing like procrastinating studying for a test to inspire you to write :)_

_Reviews = love!_


	4. Castle, Demming, and Josh

**Castle, Demming, and Josh**

_Set sometime in the future, after Josh returns from the Amazon_

Castle sat dutifully beside the hospital bed, regretfully looking at his friend, Jeremy Fields, sleeping. They'd met at school years and years ago and become fast friends. Whenever they met, they were always able to pick up exactly where they left off. Castle wasn't exactly willing to admit it, but it was probably because they both had a tendency towards not growing up. Ever.

That childish playfulness was what made them good friends, and it was what made Jeremy restless, so that he moved often, landing in faraway places from Beijing to Melbourne and eventually back in New York.

He'd only recently moved into a new apartment in SoHo. Castle had been showing him around the neighborhood, and they were quickly becoming reacquainted.

When he'd heard that Jeremy was in the hospital, he'd rushed there as fast as he could, abandoning Nikki to her banter with Rook.

Now he sat there, wondering how this had happened. The hollow beeps of the various monitors echoed in his ears.

"He's going to be okay," the nurse in the room assured him. She put the chart back in its slot at the foot of the bed and smiled at him. "The surgeon will be here in a minute to go over this."

Castle hoped he wouldn't get kicked out. He was the closest thing Jeremy had to family in the city—boarding school did that to you. He didn't want him to be alone when he woke up.

He startled to awareness when he heard two voices arguing outside the doorway.

They burst into the room, the first saying, "Look, he's not even awake yet. You don't need to be in here." And the second replying, "He is the victim of a home invasion; I have to make sure he's protected."

They both froze when they saw Castle sitting there.

Castle himself was rather slack-jawed from shock. "Josh?"

The doctor sighed. "What are you doing here, Castle?"

"Wait, you know him?"

"Demming?" Castle said weakly.

"_You_ know him too? How?"

"I work at the Twelfth. In Robery. How do you know him?"

Oh, this could not end well.

"Don't you guys think you should focus on Jeremy?" Castle tried to change the subject. He stood and approached them.

"I dated his _partner—_" Josh spat the word, "—for several months."

"Kate?"

"Yes, Kate. Until this idiot got her shot."

"Josh," Castle warned. He was—well, he wasn't _over _it, but he was past blaming himself.

"No, no, I'll explain it, writer. You pushed her, Montgomery died. Kate got shot and nearly died on _my_ operating table. Then she breaks up with me and disappears from the world for three months."

Demming interrupted, "I'm sorry, I don't understand. That was _your_ fault, Castle?"

"No," Castle ground out. "It was not."

"Wait, wait. She was dating this doctor when she got shot? That was after—" Some kind of realization dawned on the detective. He shook his head. "You are an idiot, Castle."

"And why is that?" Castle really, really didn't like this.

"The only reason she broke up with _me_ was to be with _you._ In the Hamptons. That was before she was shot."

Before Castle could process that, Josh was speaking again.

"You dated her too. Is there anybody in this city that little—"

"Hey, that's my—" Castle slowed down and shrank back. "—partner you're talking about."

"Partner, right. Last I heard, there were some big winners in the office pool."

Josh about exploded. "Are you kidding me?"

"Oh, no. You should see it. They think they're so subtle about it, too. They think their boss doesn't know."

"Gates—Gates knows? What, did you tell her?"

The three men were practically nose to nose, breathing hard and hands curling into fists.

The opening door made them freeze.

"Hey, Castle. I brought you a coffee. I thought you'd—" Kate finally looked up. "Oh."

* * *

_A/N-Thanks for reading! I'm not particularly happy with how this turned out, but I thought it was funny. If anybody else would like to take a shot at this scene, I'd love to read it. Or maybe Will, Tom, and Josh? Commenting on how they all pretty much got dumped for Castle :D_

_P.S. Please review._

_~Love_


	5. Castle, Ryan, and Esposito

**Castle, Ryan, and Esposito**

_Sometime in late Season 1_

The doorbell buzzed into the silence of the apartment.

"I'll get it!" Alexis called to her father, who was ensconced in a gunfight with Nikki Heat and unlikely to have heard the sound.

She opened the door to find two men standing there, looking slightly uncomfortable. One of them had a badge hung from his neck—they must be officers from the precinct.

"Hi," she said, a little shyer than usual.

"Hello. You must be Alexis," said the one on the right. Judging from the (numerous) stories her father brought home, he was Ryan, and the Hispanic looking one was Esposito.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I'll just go get him—he's been writing all afternoon." She hurried away from the door, and only later realized that she'd left them standing awkwardly in the hall.

Ryan and Esposito glanced at each other. This building was _rich._ From the doorway they could see the main room of the apartment—and it was huge. Rick Castle wasn't kidding when he said he was loaded.

The man himself came around the corner then.

"Hey guys. Come in." He gestured behind him. The open area was brought into full view—kitchen, living room. Enormous flat screen that they would be utilizing to the fullest extent. A few rooms off the main floor, and, holy crap, a second floor.

"You guys ready to get your asses kicked?"

"I think you've got that backwards, bro. _You're _going to get _your _ass kicked," Esposito taunted.

"Hah! Not likely. I'll have you know, I'm the king of Halo. Or are we playing Madden? Halo Wars?"

"You got Halo Wars?" Ryan sounded interested. "Jenny won't let me get it. She says I spend too much time 'in front of the box.' Whatever that means."

Esposito and Castle glanced at each other and smirked. "Yeah, Jenny. Right."

"She is a real person, guys."

Still taunting Ryan, Castle led them to the living room. He tossed Esposito the Xbox controllers and TV remote, leaving the two detectives to start up the game while he went to the kitchen to retrieve snacks.

The loading screen for Madden was already up by the time he made it back with beers and chips.

"This is a _sweet_ setup you've got here, Castle," said Ryan appreciatively. He was eying the surround sound system.

"Yeah, Bro. Madden might always have to be here from now on."

"Mi casa es su casa," Castle said as he sat down and passed them each a bottle.

The two detectives glanced at each other. Castle really did want to be a part of the team.

Soon they were deep in the football game, rotating teams. Castle lost the first game to Ryan and Esposito, and Esposito won the second game against both of them. But Ryan made a particularly spectacular touchdown when teamed with Castle, just before the announcer called game-over.

"Brilliant!" said Castle, happy to have finally beat Esposito. He offered his hand out, fingers together, pointed down, and beamed at Ryan.

The two detectives looked at him like he was nuts.

"Dude, what the hell is that?"

"What? Oh—" he looked down at his hands. "It's called Feeding the Birds."

They continued to stare.

"It's like a high five, or a fist bump," he offered for explanation.

More stares.

"You just—" He grabbed Ryan's hand and positioned it correctly, then tapped their fingertips together a few times. "That's it."

"_Why?_"

"Well, I…High fives are way overused, even when you account for all the variations. And fist bumps are really violent, if you think about it. It's like you're punching the person you're trying to congratulate. Violently. And—it makes sense. The person who deserves something gets rewarded—with food, see?" He repeated the gesture on Ryan, who, fascinated, had never put his hand down.

"So, the person getting props is…a baby bird?"

"You can't extend the metaphor too far," Castle said lightly. "But yes, it is a nurturing move that encourages further success."

The incident was forgotten, until the next time Castle made a pass to Esposito that took them into overtime. This time he held out his hands fingers up.

"Feed these birds," he said, still staring at the screen to make sure the next section didn't start while his hand was off the controller.

"Yeah, no. I'm not doing that."

And so it went every time Castle tried to get them to participate.

Until he was back on his own team, vs. the two of them. Ryan scored, and the two detectives celebrated by stealing his gesture.

Upon seeing his outraged expression, they both burst out laughing.

* * *

"Tell me you've got something," Beckett said behind the hand she was running through her hair in frustration.

Ryan looked at her over his folder. "Oh, we've got something. Turns out Summers? He withdrew $2,124.63 from his _private,_ non-joint account on the fourth."

Beckett perked up. This was their guy. No way that was a coincidence. "You pick him up yet?"

"State patrol caught him trying to make his way to Jersey. Uni's are bringing him in now."

Esposito butted in, "And _who_ was it that said we should put an APB on his car?" He held out both hands to Castle and Ryan, who proceeded to feed the birds.

"Good call, bro."

"Okay, seriously. You guys have been doing that for a week. Will you just tell me what it means?"

Castle grinned. Objective: Make Beckett crack: Complete. Ryan and Esposito understood, and they fed the birds again.

Beckett stalked away to the murder board, muttering about "male bonding."

* * *

_A/N-Thanks for reading!_

_Disclaimer-Though I am something of a gamer, I've never played any version of Halo or Madden, and I had to look up the rules of American Football to make sure it had overtime._

_I love the Castle/Espo/Ryan dynamic, and I thought FTB was a good way to start that. I also love Castle/Ryan vs Espo/Beckett, like in Fast and Furriest, because they are hilarious. Ryan really is Castle Jr. But in this case, it's boys against boss._

_I am definitely taking your suggestions into account - sequels to both chapters 1 and 4 are in the works, though I can't promise when they'll be done. (As you can see, this collection will not have a regular schedule - sorry)._

_Again, thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated and strongly encouraged :D_


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